Iolos
'''Hex Locations - '''17O, 18O, 19O, 16P, 17P, 18P '''Flag - '''Per Pale Gules and Argent, Maiden Argent and Armoured Maiden Purple Flesh Carnation Hair Gules, Respectant '''Major Languages - '''Iolan (Common), Silvrene (Some), Low Hevan (Some) '''Orders - '''Church of Maneros, The Travellers, Hevaran Khalrun, The Handmaiden Schools, The Fellowships of Houseguards, the Brotherhoods of Shadows Structure Iolos is located at the north of the Midlands, comprising land around Longwater Bay. It hasa cool to temperate climate, with low hills and some woodlands. Its location places it at the very center of a bustling seaborne trade network. Iolos is technically a republic, but in practice it is more of a constitutional oligarchy. A leader is elected for set terms and can be re-elected indefinately. The pool of actual voters is small, with stringent requirements of land, wealth and titles - Iolos is still very much ruled by its nobility. As well, during times of more lax rulers, manipulation of votes is not unheard of. Population Iolos is mostly populated by natives known as Iolans, descended from a variety of tribes, including the Maidensbay Tribe (known as pale folk with a number having rich red hair) and named after their founder, Prince Iola the Fair. However, due to its location is sees a large variety of other nationalities and races here - humans of different origins and even Trolls. Culture Iolos has a culture derived from a mixture of different Midland and Manorym cultures. It is an extremely mercantile state and is very involved in trade up the eastern Coast of Manorym, across the northern coast of the Midlands and all across the Longwater bay. Its maritime superiority in the area has often raised the jealousy and ire of its main economic rival of Mithrassen Iolos is known for having a rich culture - though some outsiders would describe it as decadent. Being a node for trade has given its people an appreciation for the beautiful, with artwork, music, and theatre all being popular. The most popular artforms are dance, painting and sculpture - permanent records of beauty, or expressions of he human form. Due to this, however, the southern slave trade makes its way to Iolos, both for ways to keep the upper class citizens from doing menial work and to provide slave dancers and performers. Its cities are known for lavish and ornate architecture, a trend said to go back to the nations founder, Prince Iola the Fair, who was known as an enthusiastic patron of the arts and on whose designs it is said many of the oldest buildings are based. Novels are also, increasingly over time, a very popular form of art among the nobility, though are looked at as a little bit lesser - the most widespread novels usually follow fairly standard tropes and are often made to excite, with plenty of violence and eroticism. The two most popular modes for this are the "Roaming Story", where a Mercenary Knight will get into many adventures, slay many monsters and beds many women, and the "Bedroom Story", which usually details the relationship between a Handmaiden and her mistress, usually with some assassins thrown in for spice, and some more explicit scenes if the author is daring. Iolan Nobles enjoy holding courtly gatherings to mark many occaisons, no matter how minor. These are invariably more important when there is a major holiday. Iolans originally copied the practice of Mask wearing at some such events from Mithrassens - however, they slowly turned the religious importance of the masks into something purely decorative, delighting in masquerades. Iolos is also known for it's courtly culture and the arts that it fosters. The nobility has a fondness for tales of chivalry and love - the nobility of other nations sometimes mock this as feminine. However, one would be unwise to mock an Iolan Noblewoman - while it is true that men normally hold positions of titleage and military ranking, the courtly culture of Iolos has also bred a long history of intruige and deception, as well as a darker side of spycraft and even assassination. The Iolan Courts have a subtle cultural idealization of "face" - a maiden may invite many lovers to her bed as long as she keeps it a secret, a noble may be duplicitious as long as he maintains a facade of chivalry. The Iolan nobility also practices a curious form of marriage. It is customary in Iolos that marriage in the nobility cannot happen until age 17 (much later than most other nations). However, like other nations, marriage is often done for political reasons. Thus Iolans have "two" marriages - one that lasts until the wed are 17, during which the wed still live with their families. During this marriage divorce is possible. It is not until they are 17 that the wed move in with one family or the other or, (If they have been particularly busy), new lands and mansion. The extended waiting period also allows families to take longer time to groom their heirs as they wish. While this often leads to high levels of familial control, many times Iolans are deeply embroiled in politics before they are even truly considered "Adults". A notable creation of this culture is the Handmaiden. While it is not uncommon for noble women in any nation to have maids to attend to them the Handmaiden of Iolos is a different creature altogether. They can best be classed as a female order of Knights, though without any sort of centralization. The original role of the Handmaiden was bodyguard - many noble women wished for their daughters to have bodyguards in their rooms, to protect them against assassination and licentious rakes while they matured. However, having a male bodyguard attending so closely to a fair maiden of Iolos was considered unseemly. Thus it became practice for the close Handmaidens of the noble daughters to be trained in the arts of war as they grew up. Soon, the role expanded however - to their charges, Handmaidens became bodyguards, tutors and companions, who swore to protect their charges with their lives. The real emergence of the Handmaiden as a cultural hallmark came with Leiss Kuyana, a Handmaiden to the current princess, who wrote a series of books - "The Silken Tomes", a series of "training manuals", for Handmaidens as it were. She further gained fame when she engaged in a full armour duel with the handmaiden of a noble woman who had given insult to the Princess. And upon her death, her scandalous memoirs were published. Though publicly in the court these writing were considered shameful, in truth, the nobility was intruiged, and the close relationship between Noble Daughter and Handmaiden became mixed in with already existant romantic and chivalric myth, despite many Handmaidens being originally slaves. However, this only added another attractive element to the story - upon the maturation of a noble daughter, the Handmaiden has the option to finish her service as a free woman. While this is not uncommon, there are quite a few Handmaidens who never leave their companion's service at all - staying as close cohorts even after marriage. It is jokingly said that foriegn visiting nobility are often confused at the marriage customs of Iolos, assuming that many nobles have two wives. In fact, it is said that the Handmaidens led to a dying out of the traditional "chivalrous male knight" in Iolan culture (though most of the actual Iolan nobility was starting to prefer businesses to military service at this time). This in turn led to the rise of the use (and cultural romanticization) of mercenary knights to solve larger scale territorial disputes and defend the nation. By the modern era, there are many official Handmaiden Schools, based on martial traditions, that provide tutors for prospective Handmaidens. Some of these schools have heated rivalries based on the superiorities of their martial techniques. The counterpoint to the Handmaiden are the Assassin, who have many "Houses" across Iolos. While they are openly reviled, they are still commonly used by the nobility. These houses range from very disreputable thugs, to consumate professionals, to strange pseudo-religious covens. Some Assassin houses have even forsworn killing to take up thievery or spying. With such an established culture of subtle murder, protection and security is an equally big business in Iolos. While the Handmaidens are the most iconic face of this, regular Iolon house guards are some of the best trained to be found anywhere, excelling not only at watching and fighting, but in specialized close quarters tactics, interrogation, poison identification and urban warfare. The best "Guard Fellowships" have histories as stories as that of the great Assassin Houses and can often find work far abroad. Common Family Names Andolv, Antangov, Barkov, Kashamon, Kliamon, Kuyana, Ollomon, Ukarev, Ulemoston,Tarton, Teshk, Tuger, Tulana Common Female Names Elys, Emilia, Isa, Maralia, Leiss, Olia, Osona, Pava, Payve, Soyta, Talinia, Valkia Common Male Names Andolan, Bialy, Emac, Emil, Kalevan, Liv, Olev, Pavlan, Reval, Taan, Tonan, Valkalan, Religion Politics Iolos is a nation ruled by the nobility. There is a Monarchy, but one whose power is limited by the official Charter of Landholders. Iolos is thus an Oligarchy. While this does prevent any one person from holding and abusing power, it does lead to rather fractitious politics. It should be noted that many groups often hold more power than others - although their power is not absolute, the Dynasties of Monarchs have at varying points in history held a large share of the power, depending on the dynasty. This shifting political structure does lend itself to very cutthroat politics. At the very worst this can involve assassination, and in the past Iolan politics were nearly totally ruled by knife and poison. To this day, the most professional assassin guilds operate out of the nation, but political assassination is now more popular than literal murder. Economics Law History ~7,180 - 7,200 - The War of Betrayal marks the division of the Human Tribes. Many human tribes reject the ruling tribe of Mithrassen. The legendary Prince Iola leads his tribe in rejecting Mithrassen rule. ~9,700 - The Seerilin Dynasty arises in the blossoming town of Meren. They begin exerting their influence over chieftans and rulers in the area, slowly forming the nation of Iolos. 9,863-9,888 - The Rule of Queen Laskma. Taking the throne as a young child, Queen Laskma grew into an impetuous warrior. She fought many wars along what is now the southern borders of Iolos, beating chieftans and tribes into submission and forcing the inhabitants to either submit to her will or flee. 10,143 - The Seerilin Dynasty ends, power shifting to the Tugeri Dynasty, who intermarried with the supposed descendents of Prince Iola. 10,208-10,310 - The Tyrants Conflict. Iolos and Silvern unite to resist an attempted invasion of both their lands by Mithrassen. 10,392 - The Longwater War breaks out between Iolos and Mithrassen, sparked by a border dispute between nobles but fueled by a long developing trade rivalry. Soon Ennegevin Goldfang joins Mithrassen, while Freeport Naval Forces ally with Iolos - the largest scale naval battles in the Midlands to date occour here. 10, 398 - After six years of successful naval combat, Iolos looses a series of devastating landbattles to Mithrassen, when a new Mithrassen king allows the Goldtooth Troll Chieften to take over military duties. 10,399 - The Tugeri Dynasty ends during the Sack of Meren. More than half the nation is absorbed by Mithrassen. The Tailek Dynasty rules what is left of Iolos. 10,503 - The Kaval Dynasty comes to power in Mithrassen, ousting the Tailek Dynasty in Civil War 10, 559 - The War of Reunification begins, the Kaval Dynasty attacking Mithrassen-Held Iolan lands. 10, 566 - The War of Reunification ends in a peace treaty and Staleman, Iolos having increased in size again. 10, 712 - The Kaval Dynasty Ends with an assassination, the extremely wealthy Osav family taking the throne, to the disgust of nobles who feel the country is being taken over by merchantmen. 10, 740 - 10,760 - The Osav Dynasty steadily repurchases large tracks of lands from Mithrassen, roughty restoring Iolos to its largest historical size. 10,808 - The War of the Two Thrones begins. The current Queen of Iolos, Emaclia, attempts to push her claim on the throne of Silvern. Outraged Silvernian nobles reject her claims and she responds with force, war breaking out. 10,826 - Queen Emaclia of Iolos dies as her nation reaches its lowest point in the war. Her son, Jovan IV takes the throne - but is deposed before having reigned a full year, a group of nobles siezing power. Over the next year, the Iolan gains in Silvern are rapidly lost as military command collapses. 10,828 - King Andolan takes the throne of Iolos, ending the War of the Two Thrones twenty years after it began. The Osav Dynasty ends and the Andolan Dynasty Begins. Category:Nations